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David Merrett's avatar

I always think the choice in resident evil to put its hokey sci-fi lab underneath a mansion was inspired. There's this real playful dissonance between the aesthetics of supernatural horror (hightened by the wonderfully nonsensical layout and puzzle mechanisms) and the plot elements that it's all quite 'grounded', or at least, not supernatural.

I think what the simulated reality of cribs, etc, demonstrate is that artificiality sort of doesn't matter. Or doesn't inherently damage the mood. It can reduce verisimilatude, or feel contrived, but equally, it can create an interesting, different mood. And one that still is engaging because the people and stories are still there, still at the core.

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Fred Z.'s avatar

I'm always fascinated by games that send the player through a supposedly normal workplace (like Half Life's science labs or any number of shooters), and how the demands of gameplay inevitably make those spaces feel cartoonishly wrong. If you take the time to explore them closely outside of gameplay, they can feel even more unsettling than the various horror games that are set in such places.

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